Finding Watchmen: Why social media matters in film marketing
Written by Eleanor Baird (contact - e-mail) -- March 4th, 2009 | Share - Save - E-mailLike many moviegoers, I’m eagerly awaiting the film version of the classic Alan Moore Watchmen comics, opening Friday. Although I’ve been getting most of my information about the movie through friends, and most recently an article in Wired, I wondered where people are going online to learn more about this highly-anticipated fill.
I analyzed where people who used terms including the keyword ‘watchmen’ on major search engines were directed over the last 10 weeks. The chart below shows the top 10 sites that these people were referred to by keyword share and the percentage of all traffic generated by searches including the keyword ‘watchmen’ that went to a particular site.
Even though the studio site was the #1 destination for these searchers, and official movie sites figured prominently into the top 10, much of the search traffic for this film was referred to social media sites.
- The official studio site was the #1 destination for searchers in this period: about 18.5% of people who searched for “watchmen” keyword were directed there. In fact, ‘watchmen’ was the 4th most popular keyword for warnerbros.com in general, generating almost 3% of the domain’s total search referrals over this same period.
- Wikipedia, at 18.4% of keyword referrals, was a close second in terms of most referrals, ranking above dedicated movie site IMDb.
- Social media sites took up three of the top 10 spots:
In the next few weeks it’s likely that the flow of traffic to Watchmen-related destinations will change as people considering going to see the movie search for reviews. Visits to other review and social media sites – like Rotten Tomatoes (#11), Facebook (#12) and Twitter (#21) – will likely increase. Still, the fact that so much of this initial search traffic is going to social media sites before the release date suggests that the channel is an important information source for audiences even weeks before they buy a ticket.
So movie marketers take note: social media matters even before the movie is released. And, it’s making Watchmen look pretty cool.
See you at the movies.
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March 5th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Wow social media rules!
March 5th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I just checked the search rankings for ‘watchmen’, and guess what? The reason why Wikipedia is ranked above IMDB is because it’s ranked 2nd after WarnerBros, and IMDB comes in 3rd. Switch those rankings, and I’ll bet the traffic shifts too.
March 5th, 2009 at 10:33 am
@Ling traffic would probably shift..the question is how much. When you actually look at the content for IMDB and Wikipedia, the difference is substantial. Wikipedia is rich with info on both the graphic novel and the film, while IMDB has summary tables.
Being familar with both sites, for pre-release movies I would actively seek out wikipedia over IMDB. This seems like a great example of Google correctly prioritizing search results
March 10th, 2009 at 1:02 am
The Watchman is the most appalling movie I’ve ever seen. Possibly the most foul, violent, trite, morally reprehensible pastiche of American cinema ever.
So the world is about to go into the last stages of annihilation and
the only one that can save it is a blue frontally naked stand-in for
God. The most eloquent ambassador that is sent on behalf of humankind
is a leather booted large-breasted tramp who stomps when she doesn’t
get her way? This is because our pagan god left his loyal wife for the
prostitute and apparently she is the most precious thing mankind has
left to offer, even though she sleeps with everyone else. Unfortunately
for mankind, she seems more traumatized by the discovery of her
illegitimate birth than the hundreds of millions of people that are
about to die. But luckily for her, the people do get bombed to a
grotesque withering mass death but we discover that her mother loves
her so it’s OK.
It’s offensive on every level imaginable. Pregnant women get shot.
Women get raped, but return for more. Little girls are mutilated and
fed to dogs, but this violence is justified by more violence. Namely
the masked avenger hacking the kidnapper with an ax until there is
nothing left but some bloody pulpy mass.
But worse it doesn’t just try to be gratuitous violence married with
the most vulgar and cliché adolescent pornography—the sickening part
is that it comports itself as a profound reflection on mankind. As if
all that was done was justified by some shoddy mythological and not
even arcane historical references and inane attempt at a discussion on
Deism. The most trenchantly ironic part of the film is its attempt to
critique the violence and repulsive aspects of human nature but then
perpetuates it by tainting the minds of anyone who watched with its
filth.
Anyone who enjoyed the movie should reconsider their consumptive and
putrid existence.
March 15th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Watchmen is a visual and psychological cornucopia — definitely worth watching
March 21st, 2009 at 1:37 pm
thank’s
April 10th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
nice job
April 10th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
thanks
April 12th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
great article
April 28th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Take Warnerbros official website out …we could see web 2.0 is still ruling. Inevitably, Social media marketing is the next big guy . before any product is released, social media could play the role of gathering information, insight, and finally promote the most suitable products back to them.
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